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You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the underground, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight ...Read MoreYou may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the underground, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls and aftershave on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr are immediately dashed by the grim reality of flourescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click, and that's when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life - and live it sober. What follows is a memoir that's as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is real.Read Less

Great delivery

This book was in great condition and arrived within two days of the order.

The book is very good and Augusten Borroughs writes great novels. I ordered all of his books from this same customer. Magical Thinking was another great book. I was literally laughing out loud in airports, buses, and anywhere I had a free moment.

HesterPrine08

Oct 23, 2008

Breaking up with alcohol is hard to do

Augusten is now a successful adman living in New York City. And just like his father he has a problem with the bottle. In this chronicle he shares with us his battle to get sober and stay sober. He choses to enter rehab to try to straighten out his life and meets a fellow addict and enters into the cliche co-dependent affair that quickly goes sour. With honesty and humor he shares his ups and downs and what it took to get clean and stay clean.

ThePageTurner

Sep 8, 2007

Another great book by Augusten Burroughs. Although not as compelling as Running With Scissors, the same cheeky writing style is still forthcoming.

I tended to feel as if it was getting a bit long-winded about three-quarters of the way through; it was getting repetitive and old -- but I suppose that is the nature of the disease -- doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

The character, because he is a rampant alcoholic, is not nearly as sympathetic. At times, I just wanted to shake some sense into him. But, again, I suppose that is the nature of the disease.

I think the book gives a pretty accurate depiction of alcoholic thinking. Spot on, really.

Publishers Weekly, 2003-07-07Imagine coming home to find hundreds of empty scotch bottles and 1,452 empty beer bottles in your apartment. This is what Burroughs (Running with Scissors) encountered upon returning from Minnesota's Proud Institute (supposedly the gay alcohol rehab choice). "The truly odd part is that I really don't know how they got there," admits Burroughs in this autobiographical tale of being a prodigy with an extremely successful career in advertising and a drive to get as wasted as possible as often as possible. Burroughs's telling of the tale alternates among hilarious, pathetic, existential and hopeful. It is an earnest and cautionary tale of calamity, brimming with Sedaris-like darkly comic quips: "Making alcoholic friends is as easy as making sea monkeys." Burroughs's slight Southern accent and gentle yet glib delivery should summon empathy on the listener's part that may have been lost with another reader. From Minnesota, Burroughs returns to New York and participates in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Like James Frey in the similar yet very different book, A Million Little Pieces (see audio review, below), Burroughs believes that when rehab is over, he must walk into a bar to see if he can resist the temptation to drink. Though not a technique condoned by A.A., it certainly makes for a fascinating listening experience. Simultaneous release with the St. Martin's hardcover (Forecasts, Apr. 21). (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly, 2003-04-21None of the many readers of Burroughs's mordant memoir debut, Running with Scissors, would doubt that its entertainingly twisted author could manage, by page 41 of his new installment, to check himself into America's frumpiest alcohol rehab facility for gays. Burroughs has a knack for ending up in depraved situations and a vibrant talent for writing about them. Asked to sign reams of legal forms before entering rehab, he notes, "the real Augusten would never stand for this. The real Augusten would say, `Could I get a Bloody Mary, extra Tabasco... and the check?' " Alas, Burroughs's co-workers are tired of him embarrassing clients by spraying Donna Karan for Men not only around his neck but also on his tongue to mask the tangy miasma of alcohol, and they insist he seek help. Initially repulsed by his recovery program's maudlin language and mind-numbing platitudes, Burroughs eventually makes a steadfast, equally incredulous friend in rehab, finds his own salvation and confidently re-enters society. But when he falls for a wealthy crack addict and his best friend begins to succumb to AIDS, the support he'd enjoyed in rehab begins to crumble. One of the many pleasures of Burroughs's first book was the happy revelation that despite the author's surreal, crueler-than-Dickensian upbringing, he managed to land among a tribe of fellow eccentrics. Burroughs strains here to replicate that zany tone and occasionally indulges in navel-gazing, but readers accustomed to his heady cocktail of fizzy humor and epiphanic poignancy won't be disappointed. Agent, Christopher Schelling. (June) Forecast: Burroughs is now an NPR commentator and started writing a sex column in Details last month, so his reader base may be expanding. Still, this book lacks the zing of Scissors, and casual fans might not go for it. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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